Developer Spotlight - Inventory, Manufacturing, Logistics

Dear players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we discuss inventory, manufacturing, and logistics as one of the main progression and scaling mechanics of Carrier Command 2.

In Carrier Command 2, you battle to capture islands. These islands contain valuable resources or manufacturing facilities, and are of huge strategic value. This is the basis of the original game from 1988.

To fight these battles you will need fuel, weapons, ammunition, equipment, and perhaps even replacement unmanned vehicles to cover your losses in battle. These resources must be manufactured, transported, stored, and equipped.



Manufacturing

Items are manufactured on islands. Each island has a facility type, and can only manufacture items within its category such as small ammunition or aircraft chassis. Manufacturing costs time and currency.

You can queue items for production on islands via the manufacturing and logistics map screen. When selecting an island, you can queue items within that islands category for manufacture. Manufacturing is a specialised process, and there is a refitting time for setting up manufacture of a particular item. This means it is much more time efficient to mass-produce than make just one of an item.

Logistics

You can move items around the world via logistics barges. These unmanned ships can pick up, transport and drop off cargo between islands or even the carrier.

When a barge is assigned to an island, it will pick up items from that island, and deliver them to the target. Barges can be assigned to multiple islands via the logistics map screen, as well as designating the logistics routes from island to island.

Once the routes and barges are assigned, logistics barges function autonomously, moving your inventory around the world to where you need it.

Inventory

The carrier has limited inventory capacity. You order items to be delivered or removed from the carrier via the order screen. This screen is a list of items showing how many of each item are manufactured and available in the logistics network, already on the carrier, and on order. You can increase or decrease the order to have items delivered or removed.



Game Design

In Carrier Command 2, your strategy often depends on having the right weapons and equipment available for use. This means the islands you capture, the items you produce, and the way you set up your delivery network is very important in sustaining your advance across the archipelago.

Good foresight and planning is also essential. Manufacturing and logistics takes time, so reviewing your stocks and thinking about what is important to manufacture ahead of the time at which you need it will avoid your progress being blocked.

The manufacturing and logistics takes a similar function to base building in other strategy games, although in another form. In Command and Conquer, Starcraft, or Age of Empires, a huge part of being an effective player is making sure you are harvesting enough resources, to produce the right buildings, to produce the right units, to fight your battle. In Carrier Command 2, this process is more pronounced, with distinct battles at islands, and calmer periods between battles where logistics can be primary.

This is also inspired by the original XCOM: Enemy Unknown (1994), another Microprose classic. This game had a similar gameplay loop, where the player would plan and design their overall strategies including fitting out vehicles and equipment in the first part of the game, then play through battles with that specific equipment in the second part of the game. These two cycles played into each other very well, with each part of the game having huge consequence on the other.

in XCOM (1994), doing the right research, ordering and manufacturing the right equipment was essential to being able to win the battles. Perhaps other players will have started their mission only to realise they didn't equip the right ammunition for their rifles on the Skyranger, like I did many times? The same relationship and consequence is true for Carrier Command 2. It is possible to fail, just as it is possible to play with great skill.

We are really enjoying sharing these details about the game and are really excited to see what you think. Let us know your thoughts in the comments! And tell us what you want to hear about next.

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers